MONTREAL -- Ah, the great Canadian northwest, where the mighty Mackenzie River rumbles to the frigid Beaufort Sea. Land of the Mounties, land of the Inuit.A land soon, perhaps, to be known as "Bob."In 1999, Canada's 1.3 million-square-mile Northwest Territories will split in two, with the eastern region to become Nunavut, a vast semi-autonomous homeland for the Inuit, or Eskimos, who will make up 80 percent of the 22,000 residents.The more densely populated western realm, with 45,000 people bunched in an arctic enclave of 504,165 square miles, is seeking its own identity.

IQALUIT, Northwest Territories -- Already the hunters are fanning out across the frozen tundra to bag sufficient caribou for a feast the likes of which has never been seen in Canada's Arctic. There will be fireworks, much chest-thumping and grand oratory. There will be drum dancing and traditional throat singing.Tomorrow, the eastern half of the Northwest Territories splits off to form the new territory of Nunavut -- "Our Land," in the language of the Inuit, or Eskimos, who make up 85 percent of the 27,200 inhabitants of one of the most remote, forbidding and sparsely inhabited regions on Earth.

IQALUIT, Northwest Territories -- Springtime, and the rays of the midday sun spark a thousand tiny rainbows in the ice mist. The howl of Eskimo dogs tethered on the frozen barrens of Frobisher Bay is offset by the hoarse squawk of the giant ravens that steal their bones. The weather, as usual, is cold -- below freezing.A snowmobile wends along the snowpack of Iqaluit's main street. The driver, an Inuit outfitted in fur, has a carbine slung from his shoulder. The wooden sled bumping behind his machine carries a fresh-killed seal.

IGLOOLIK, Northwest Territories -- The time when the sun disappears and day becomes night is known as "the great darkness" by the people who have lived on this island of ice high in the Canadian arctic for over 4,000 years.Stars shine at midday, and though violet bands brighten the immense sky for brief periods around what would be high noon in Toronto, 1,950 miles south, the sun does not appear at all for seven weeks.The day the sun finally emerges from the horizon was once the most important day of the year for Igloolik's Eskimos, who now prefer to be known as Inuit.

Canada came a step closer Monday toward creating a homeland covering one-fifth of its land mass for some 17,500 Inuit (or Eskimos), who are unhappy with things as they are. The eastern and northern two-thirds of the present Northwest Territories, 770,000 square miles of it, would be hived off to form Nunavut ("Our Land"), a self-governing territory scheduled to come into existence in 1999. It is one-third bigger in area than Alaska (population, 550,000).By a narrow plebiscite in 1982, the largely Native American peoples of the Northwest Territories agreed to this arrangement.

TORONTO -- The Canadian government announced yesterday that it had agreed, in effect, to grant political domain over 770,000 square miles, one-fifth of Canada, to the 17,500 Eskimos who live there.Under the agreement, the government accepted the creation of a new political subdivision in Canada to be known as Nunavut, an Eskimo term meaning "our land," and approved carving it out of the eastern reaches of what is now known as the Northwest Territories.For the Eskimos, the agreement marked the culmination of a battle for political and economic rights that began centuries ago, when European explorers first reached the largely barren, icebound terrain of the Arctic archipelago.

IGLOOLIK, Northwest Territories -- The time when the sun disappears and day becomes night is known as "the great darkness" by the people who have lived on this island of ice high in the Canadian arctic for over 4,000 years.Stars shine at midday, and though violet bands brighten the immense sky for brief periods around what would be high noon in Toronto, 1,950 miles south, the sun does not appear at all for seven weeks.The day the sun finally emerges from the horizon was once the most important day of the year for Igloolik's Eskimos, who now prefer to be known as Inuit.

IQALUIT, Northwest Territories -- Already the hunters are fanning out across the frozen tundra to bag sufficient caribou for a feast the likes of which has never been seen in Canada's Arctic. There will be fireworks, much chest-thumping and grand oratory. There will be drum dancing and traditional throat singing.Tomorrow, the eastern half of the Northwest Territories splits off to form the new territory of Nunavut -- "Our Land," in the language of the Inuit, or Eskimos, who make up 85 percent of the 27,200 inhabitants of one of the most remote, forbidding and sparsely inhabited regions on Earth.

RESOLUTE, Northwest Territories -- Bezal Jesudason keeps his table set for 15, here on remote Cornwallis Island high in the Canadian Arctic archipelago. He never knows who may be dropping in for dinner.There were the New Agers from Winnipeg, on their way by sled to the magnetic North Pole, where they hoped to beget a super-baby.There was the Japanese film crew making a movie called "Antarctica." Because they were at the wrong end of the globe, they had to use stuffed penguins as props.There was the moon-walking astronaut Neil Armstrong, who spent the afternoon building an igloo outside Mr. Jesudason's door, intent on spending the night in it.And there was the physics professor from Hong Kong who wanted to do tai chi exercises at the magnetic North Pole, to see whether his arms generated an electrical current as they passed through the Earth's magnetic field.

IQALUIT, Northwest Territories -- Adamie Pitseolak dreams of leading his people to master a more modern destiny as they carve an independent homeland out of the arctic ice.But with five years to go before they redraw the map of North America, there is growing anxiety among Canada's Inuit over whether Nunavut (Our Land) will be a shining success or a dismal failure.Once known as Eskimos (literally, "eaters of raw meat"), the Inuit yearn to preserve their ancestral ways of hunting, fishing and trapping across the snow-swept top of the globe, while also moving into the modern world and the next century.

IQALUIT, Northwest Territories -- Springtime, and the rays of the midday sun spark a thousand tiny rainbows in the ice mist. The howl of Eskimo dogs tethered on the frozen barrens of Frobisher Bay is offset by the hoarse squawk of the giant ravens that steal their bones. The weather, as usual, is cold -- below freezing.A snowmobile wends along the snowpack of Iqaluit's main street. The driver, an Inuit outfitted in fur, has a carbine slung from his shoulder. The wooden sled bumping behind his machine carries a fresh-killed seal.

MONTREAL -- Ah, the great Canadian northwest, where the mighty Mackenzie River rumbles to the frigid Beaufort Sea. Land of the Mounties, land of the Inuit.A land soon, perhaps, to be known as "Bob."In 1999, Canada's 1.3 million-square-mile Northwest Territories will split in two, with the eastern region to become Nunavut, a vast semi-autonomous homeland for the Inuit, or Eskimos, who will make up 80 percent of the 22,000 residents.The more densely populated western realm, with 45,000 people bunched in an arctic enclave of 504,165 square miles, is seeking its own identity.

IQALUIT, Northwest Territories -- Adamie Pitseolak dreams of leading his people to master a more modern destiny as they carve an independent homeland out of the arctic ice.But with five years to go before they redraw the map of North America, there is growing anxiety among Canada's Inuit over whether Nunavut (Our Land) will be a shining success or a dismal failure.Once known as Eskimos (literally, "eaters of raw meat"), the Inuit yearn to preserve their ancestral ways of hunting, fishing and trapping across the snow-swept top of the globe, while also moving into the modern world and the next century.

RESOLUTE, Northwest Territories -- Bezal Jesudason keeps his table set for 15, here on remote Cornwallis Island high in the Canadian Arctic archipelago. He never knows who may be dropping in for dinner.There were the New Agers from Winnipeg, on their way by sled to the magnetic North Pole, where they hoped to beget a super-baby.There was the Japanese film crew making a movie called "Antarctica." Because they were at the wrong end of the globe, they had to use stuffed penguins as props.There was the moon-walking astronaut Neil Armstrong, who spent the afternoon building an igloo outside Mr. Jesudason's door, intent on spending the night in it.And there was the physics professor from Hong Kong who wanted to do tai chi exercises at the magnetic North Pole, to see whether his arms generated an electrical current as they passed through the Earth's magnetic field.

Canada came a step closer Monday toward creating a homeland covering one-fifth of its land mass for some 17,500 Inuit (or Eskimos), who are unhappy with things as they are. The eastern and northern two-thirds of the present Northwest Territories, 770,000 square miles of it, would be hived off to form Nunavut ("Our Land"), a self-governing territory scheduled to come into existence in 1999. It is one-third bigger in area than Alaska (population, 550,000).By a narrow plebiscite in 1982, the largely Native American peoples of the Northwest Territories agreed to this arrangement.

RESOLUTE BAY, Northwest Territories -- Nowadays, to Canada's consternation, the dawning of expedition season in March also brings with it more modern explorers and entrepreneurs who tackle the High Arctic with high risks, high technology and highly unusual transport.Examples abound:* One U.S. polar promoter, who earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records by being the first to sky-dive onto the North Pole in 1981, has worn a Santa Claus suit to delight tourists he flies up every year to the globe's northern axis.

RESOLUTE BAY, Northwest Territories -- Nowadays, to Canada's consternation, the dawning of expedition season in March also brings with it more modern explorers and entrepreneurs who tackle the High Arctic with high risks, high technology and highly unusual transport.Examples abound:* One U.S. polar promoter, who earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records by being the first to sky-dive onto the North Pole in 1981, has worn a Santa Claus suit to delight tourists he flies up every year to the globe's northern axis.

BROUGHTON ISLAND, Northwest Territories -- It can be lonely at the top, even in a tiny village where everyone knows everyone else.Kayrene Nookiguak, 21, is the schoolroom star in this remote hamlet of 450 Inuit -- as those often known as Eskimos prefer to be called. Not only is she the first to make it through high school, she is also the first to go to a university, 1,600 miles away in the south.This was indeed a feat, considering that in grade school here, Ms. Nookiguak and the other children spoke only Inuktitut, and the teachers spoke only English.

TORONTO -- The Canadian government announced yesterday that it had agreed, in effect, to grant political domain over 770,000 square miles, one-fifth of Canada, to the 17,500 Eskimos who live there.Under the agreement, the government accepted the creation of a new political subdivision in Canada to be known as Nunavut, an Eskimo term meaning "our land," and approved carving it out of the eastern reaches of what is now known as the Northwest Territories.For the Eskimos, the agreement marked the culmination of a battle for political and economic rights that began centuries ago, when European explorers first reached the largely barren, icebound terrain of the Arctic archipelago.

BROUGHTON ISLAND, Northwest Territories -- It can be lonely at the top, even in a tiny village where everyone knows everyone else.Kayrene Nookiguak, 21, is the schoolroom star in this remote hamlet of 450 Inuit -- as those often known as Eskimos prefer to be called. Not only is she the first to make it through high school, she is also the first to go to a university, 1,600 miles away in the south.This was indeed a feat, considering that in grade school here, Ms. Nookiguak and the other children spoke only Inuktitut, and the teachers spoke only English.